Vaclav Havel went from designing theater sets to choreographing the Czech Republic's entry into NATO. One constant in his improbable rise to president was a steely commitment to human rights, as reflected in selected excerpts.

The Charter 77 declaration and petition appeared in western Europe in January 1977; it was a human rights document authored by a group of Czechoslovakians that spawned a movement later known as Charter 77. The document cits Czechoslovakian government’s violations of human rights based on the country’s Constitution and international treaties to which it had signed. Some founding members of Charter 77 were involved in the transition from Communist to democratic rule in 1989.